Steeped in the Wine of Love

Nanak speaks in praise of God not as a pundit, but as if inebriated. His words aren't those of a scholar, but rather they express a person completely steeped in the wine of love; therefore the repetitions. They are words spoken in a state of ecstasy, just as you see a drunkard going along the road repeating himself over and over and over again. Nanak is completely inebriated with some profound intoxicant, so he also indulges in repetition.

Babar, the Moghul, invaded India. Taking Nanak to be of doubtful character, he had him imprisoned along with others. But gradually the news began to reach Babar that there was a unique prisoner who created around him a strange atmosphere, a spirit of intoxication, and he kept singing happily all day. Babar thought such a man cannot be imprisoned who has an internal freedom that cannot be put in chains, so he sent Nanak a message to come and see him. Nanak replied, "You will have to come and visit, O king, for Nanak is in that realm from which visiting people is out of the question."

So Babar himself went to the prison to see. He was very impressed by Nanak's personality. He brought him to the palace and offered him the choicest wine. Nanak laughed and sang a song in which he told the king that Nanak has already tasted the wine of God, now no other wine can affect him. The king would do well to drink from Nanak's wine instead of the ordinary wine.

These are songs of a drunkard. Nanak sings away like a small child or like a drunkard. He is not guided by any rule or conditions, nor has he tried to beautify his language. His poems are like uncut stones. When a poet writes, he writes and rewrites and makes a thousand changes. He worries about the grammar, he worries about the rhythm, the meter, the words. He makes many changes.

Even a poet the caliber of Rabindranath Tagore used to do this. His diaries are full of cuts and rewrites.

Nanak's words are different. They are not changed and arranged. They are just as Nanak uttered them. These are words that were spoken and not written; therefore no account is kept of the rhythm or the cadence or even the language. If it has a meter, it is the meter of the soul; if there is any grammar, it is not of man, but of God. If you find any rhythm in it, it is the rhythm of the ecstasy and intoxication within. This is why whenever anyone asked Nanak a question he would say, "Listen!"

then Mardana, his close disciple, would pick up his instrument and Nanak would sing.

Remember this, otherwise you will be confused at Nanak's constant repetition. You will wonder why he keeps saying His attributes are priceless, His worth is priceless... again and again. These are words spoken in ecstasy, not words repeated from somewhere; these are words that hummed within him. It did not matter if others heard. If you keep this in mind, Nanak's words will reveal countless depths.

PRICELESS ARE HIS QUALITIES, AND HIS TRADING, TOO; PRICELESS ARE HIS SALESMEN, AND HIS STOREHOUSES; PRICELESS IS HE WHO COMES TO TAKE, AND WHAT HE TAKES; PRICELESS HIS FEELINGS, AND HIS SAMADHI, TOO PRICELESS HIS DIVINE JUSTICE, AND HIS COURTS; first, He is priceless, everything of Him is priceless. There is no way to evaluate, no scale by which to weigh Him, nor yardstick to measure Him. There is no way in which we can surmise how much He is, what He is, how far He extends.

Whoever sets out to measure Him finds that not only do all yardsticks fall short and break, but the mind that has set out to measure also breaks.

The Sanskrit word, maya, refers to illusion. This word is derived from the same root word as mapa, which means measure. The English words 'meter' and 'measure' also come from that same root.

Maya signifies that which can be measured or weighed. That which cannot be weighed is Brahma.

Whatever you can measure, know it is maya; whatever can be evaluated or defined, know it is maya. When you approach that which cannot be defined, which defies all measures and cannot be weighed, when you come near to this immeasurable, that is the beginning of religion.

Science can never know God for the whole scientific method is based on measure. The weighing scales are the symbol of science; to measure is its way. Therefore science will never come anywhere near God and will always maintain that there is no God, because it only believes in that which can be measured, which can be investigated. Marx has said, "If God manifests in the research institute, then only shall I believe in His existence." But such a God cannot be God.

Do you not feel the presence of something that is immeasurable all around you? He is even within your measuring devices. Now, for instance, take a flower: you can analyze it in your institutes.

You can weigh it, you can measure it, you can discover its chemistry; but one thing in the flower cannot be measured. When you will have completed your full analysis you will suddenly realize that the flower is no more. With all your investigations you could not locate the beauty of the flower.

Therefore scientists do not accept beauty as such.

Isn't it strange? The very first response to looking at a flower involves its beauty, yet this is completely lost in scientific research. What is destroyed by the first stroke of science is the very thing that first affects you when you see the flower; the first feeling, the first ray of consciousness reflected on your mind at the sight of the flower, is of its beauty. The feeling is unspoken, unsung, but deep within a cloud of beauty encircles you. Science is unable to grasp this.

You see a child dancing, playing, laughing, and your first feeling is of life - energy flowing. If science is asked to analyze this child it will do it thoroughly. The scientists will list the percent of iron, phosphorus, calcium; how much water, how dense is the child's body; but that life will be no more.

Once a scientist was walking along the road with his friend. A beautiful girl passed by and the friend stood still, mouth agape. "Forget it," said the scientist. "She is ninety percent water." Man is ninety percent water and ten percent matter. It is said that the total value of the substance of a human body is not more than five rupees. That is all the minerals within the body are worth. Therefore the human body is burnt on death, for it has no more value.

Science will measure everything and then say that there is no such thing as a soul. How can they find the soul when it is immeasurable? When we cannot locate it through any means of measurement, then we claim that it doesn't exist. If we were wise we would say that all our ways of measuring take us only up to maya and no further. Therefore we must devise some other means than measurement to know Him.

The method of science is measuring, investigating, examining, defining. The method of religion is absolutely different; it is not to measure or examine or define - but to drown in it, be immersed in it.

The scientist stands apart from his quest, the religious man becomes one with it; he drowns in the very thing he is seeking.

Nanak once went to Lahore. The town's richest man came and bowed at his feet. It was the custom in those days that a man who had ten million rupees could fly a flag over his house. Seth Dunichand, that was his name, had many flags flying. He touched his head to Nanak's feet, then with folded hands he said to him, "I wish to be of service. By His grace God has given me enough. Whatever you wish I will fulfill."

Nanak took out a sewing needle from his cloak, and giving it to Dunichand he said, "Keep this very carefully, and return it to me after your death."

Dunichand was so engrossed in the pride of his wealth that he did not realize what Nanak was saying. "As you wish," he said and left. Arrogance makes a person so blind at times that he does not realize some things are impossible. finally, on the way home Dunichand thought about what he had been asked and realized he could not return the needle after his death.

So he went back to Nanak and said, "You have entrusted me with a difficult task. I thought nothing of it at the time, but now I feel that you might have been joking with me. What need is there to take care of a needle? Since I presume that the ways of a saint are mysterious, there must be a reason for it. Forgive me, but take back the needle for I shall not be able to clear the debt later. How could I take the needle with me beyond death?"

Nanak said, "You can give back the needle since it has served its purpose. That is the very question I was going to ask of you. If you cannot take such a small thing as this needle when you die, what will you take of the millions and millions of rupees you have amassed? If you cannot carry a puny little needle, what else do you have that you think you can take? You are really a poor man, Dunichand, for only he is rich who can take something with him after death."

Anything that can be measured cannot be taken beyond death; only the immeasurable can be taken.

There are two types of people in this world. One type is always anxious to measure, always searching for things to count and weigh. The other type is always looking for what is immeasurable.

The first type are not religious but worldly; they belong to samsara, the world of illusion. The second type are the religious people, the sannyasins.

The search for the immeasurable is religion. He who has found the immeasurable conquers death; he has attained the nectar, the elixir. What can be measured is bound to disintegrate; whatever has a boundary is bound to rot. Whatever can be defined is here today and gone tomorrow. Mountains like the Himalayas will disappear one day; so also the moon, the sun and the stars. We call the mountains stable and immovable, but they too are movable and unstable. Everything is unstable, as far as measure goes; all things that can be measured are like individual waves. Where all measure ends, where all boundaries fade, that is the beginning of the Ocean of Brahma, the beginning of God.

Therefore, Nanak says, His qualities are invaluable, and His trading too. You cannot set value on Him - that is the difficulty. You can evaluate Napoleon and Alexander, for their wealth and kingdoms set their value. But how will you estimate the value of Buddha? What is the worth of Nanak and the likes of Him? We can judge the worth of those with wealth and position, for their possessions are their very souls: one man is worth a million rupees, another is worth ten million. But how can we gauge the value of someone who has nothing except God? Thus many a time we fail to see a Nanak. Many a time Buddha crosses our path but we have no eyes to see him, for we are only conversant with the art of measuring; it is only things that we see. If Buddha held a diamond in his hand we would have seen the diamond, but not Buddha - whereas the diamond is worthless and Buddha is beyond value, beyond price.

Our eyes, our vision, our way of thinking, our minds - take stock of these. Outside is the world of measure, inside is the mind. The mind and maya, the world of illusion are one. Outside lies the measure, inside is the measurer - the mind. The immeasurable that is outside is Brahma; it has no connection with the mind, but is related only to the soul, the atman; for the atman is also immeasurable. You can only relate yourself with that which you are within. The mind has its boundary, thus through it you can only know the limited. The soul has no boundary, so through it you can know the boundless. What is the worth of God? Nothing!

It is said that Judas sold Jesus to his enemies for thirty pieces of silver. We are shocked. A man like Jesus who comes only once on earth after hundreds of years, and Judas trades him off for a few pieces of silver? We find it hard to imagine. But you would have done the same. Perhaps you would have taken thirty thousand instead of thirty, but what is the difference? A measure is a measure.

Note one thing: after staying with Jesus for years, Judas could not recognize Jesus, he could not see him. When someone bribed him with thirty pieces of silver, he promptly told him where Jesus could be found. The coins seemed more valuable than Jesus.

We see only what we can evaluate. We are trapped by the price of things. People come to me and ask what they will gain by meditation. How will they benefit by it? It is not that they do not know that meditation will lead them to God. They do know, but they see no profit in God. They know meditation leads to bliss, but bliss has no market value. If you try to sell it who will buy? In their own language people want to know the value, the price, of what can be attained through meditation.

They are not wrong in enquiring, for the economics of life is based on value. For one hour of meditation, how many rupees could you have earned in your shop? If you attain something of equal value or more, then meditation is worthwhile; otherwise it is poor business and useless.

Unfortunately, what you get in meditation has no value. As long as you ask the price of things you will be unable to begin meditation, for you are held in the grip of the world of values, samsara. Whereas God means to enter into pricelessness and non-value.

PRICELESS ARE HIS QUALITIES, AND HIS TRADING, TOO; PRICELESS ARE HIS SALESMEN, AND HIS STOREHOUSES; Who are His salesmen? Those whom we call saints, realized men, buddhas. They have come to sell you something that you have not the courage to buy. They want to give you something priceless, but you aren't ready to take it. You feel that which is given free is bound to be worthless. God is given free, so you aren't interested. If a price were set on Him, you would think twice. Buddha, Nanak, Kabir are His tradesmen, but their business is rather confusing and beyond your understanding.

They do not appear as traders or salesmen to you.

finding Nanak useless for any kind of work, his father began to worry what would happen to him.

He exhorted him time and again to do something and not be so utterly useless. Nanak's father didn't have the eyes to see what was invaluable in his son. People came to tell him what a priceless son he had, but he would answer, "Priceless? My foot! He hasn't the sense to earn a paisa. He only knows how to lose money!" What is earning in this world is losing in the other.

Nanak's father told him that if he could do nothing else at least he should take the cattle to graze If someone is angry with his son he tells him to go and graze cattle; it is considered the meanest of jobs for the dullest of people.

So Nanak's father said, "Go and take the cattle to graze. Sitting as you do the whole day long with your eyes glued to the skies, how else can you make a living?" The father was a totally worldly man who worried about his son's future.

Nanak agreed happily, but for different reasons: he found more peace and tranquillity in the company of animals than man, for at least animals aren't constantly talking about economics. They are not always hankering after wealth and possessions. So Nanak was happy to find that work. He loved to be with animals; having no ego, the animals would quietly leave him to himself.

Nanak went along with his cows and buffaloes. But such people always land in trouble. He let the animals loose and said, "Graze to your hearts' content, my friends," and he closed his eyes and was lost in his ecstasy. The animals moved into the adjoining field and destroyed it completely. The farmer came shouting, "What have you done? You'll have to pay to the last paisa. My whole harvest has been destroyed by your animals."

Nanak opened his eyes and said, "Don't be disturbed, brother. The animals are His, the field is His.

It is He who let them loose in your field. Don't worry. Good fortune will rain on you."

"Shut up!" raved the man. "Good fortune indeed! Stop your babbling. I am ruined."

He ran to Nanak's father and dragged him to the village head. He demanded the value of the full harvest. The village head was a Muslim by the name of Shah Bullar. He was a devotee of Nanak.

He said, "Let's see what Nanak has to say." When Nanak was questioned he said, "All happens through His will. It is His order and all is well. It is He who sent the animals, it is He who grew the harvest. And if He has grown it once He will grow it a thousand times again. What is the need to panic? No loss was incurred."

The farmer said, "Come with me to the field to see for yourselves. My field is destroyed and this man says everything is all right."

As the story goes, all of them went to the field and what did they see? A golden harvest was swaying in the breeze! The adjoining fields paled in comparison. Such a harvest had never been seen before.

The story may be true or not, but it carries great meaning. What is one to say of the field of someone who leaves everything entirely in His hands? The harvest that bloomed in the life of Nanak has perhaps rarely been seen in anyone's life. But the courage to leave all to Him...!

The owner of the field could not believe his eyes. The greatest miracle in the world is to leave everything to God, then things begin to happen every day of your life for which you will have no rational explanation.

The moral of the story is that he who leaves everything to God finds such wonderful things happening for which there are no logical explanations. when the immeasurable enters your life, riddles begin.

Mystery means only one thing: you have turned your eyes away from the world of measure and directed your vision towards the immeasurable, from limitations towards the unlimited, from the known to the unknown. As soon as you create a little place for the unknown in your life, the harvest of miracles begins to bloom.

Nanak is a salesman of the other world. This world has always treated such people very badly.

Jesus was hung on the cross. Socrates was poisoned. Even when we did not maltreat them quite so drastically, we avoided listening to them. Whenever we worship it is only a device to keep ourselves as we are. We pray: You are great, O Lord, how can we attain You? We offer these flowers at your feet, but we shall remain as we are.

You offer worship to appease your soul - and stay the same. Your worshipping is false. If it were genuine there would be one sure test - you would be a changed person. If you truly revered Nanak, you would be transformed. But you remain the same even if you pretend to revere Nanak; then your reverence is only an escape device. You say, "You are great. All you say is absolutely right, but the time is not yet ripe for us. When the time comes we will set out on this path, but there are so many duties in life to be done first. What's the hurry?"

We keep postponing it. Our reverence is filled with such cunning. Remember, reverence can be a very cunning device. To poison someone is a straighter and simpler way to get rid of him; in Greece they poisoned Socrates, and the Jews crucified Christ. India is more cunning, for they are past masters at it. We neither poisoned nor crucified Buddha, Nanak, Mahavir or Krishna - we worshipped them.

Remember, the Jews haven't yet been able to shake off Jesus after crucifying him. Jesus still haunts them; the feelings of guilt and sin for his crucifixion continues to torment them. They cannot brush aside his memory.

But we Indians are clever; we have rid ourselves of them and are not tormented by thoughts of them. We are indeed very, very clever. We have fixed days to remember them: their birthdays, the anniversaries of their deaths. We remember them with full fervor, with drums and conch shells and flowers and processions - but only on these days. The rest of the year we beg them to leave us alone to carry on our work, our trade. We are not yet ready to deal with the other world. We didn't have to take the trouble to remove our great men bodily, because we know so many tricks to bypass them, so why take the trouble. And besides, killing them would mean we had taken them too seriously.

We shall worship you, give you the status of God, and call you guru, saint, whatever - but let us remain as we are! This is a non-violent device to be rid of them. We place them on the altar in the temples, and remain in the world of samsara ourselves. When we need something we call on them.

We use them but we aren't prepared to change ourselves for their sake.

We are a clan of clever, cunning people with an old history. Old people are very clever, for life's experience has shown them ways and means of evasion. Why crucify or poison? Why all the plotting and planning? Put them on a pedestal and you are rid of them! Thus we have placed all our salesmen of the other world on the altar and settled the issue: "You are God, we are your devotees, your worshippers," and so the matter ends.

The real thing is to become Nanak yourself, and not to worship Nanak. The real thing is to become the Gurugranth, the Sikh holy book, so that your utterance starts the resonance of Omkar. But then you have to undergo a complete transformation.

PRICELESS ARE HIS SALESMEN...

Therefore, we cannot recognize them. We feel that whatever they say doesn't fit our sense of reason, doesn't touch our understanding. Then we raise a wall between them and ourselves, and we make separate compartments. When you are in the gurudwara you are a different man from when you are in your shop. In the temple you shed your tears of adoration and sway with emotion. In the mosque you are different from the marketplace. There seem to be two different persons, not one; it is also a skillful evasive trick.

We have made separate compartments in ourselves. Religion is our Sunday-corner. We go to church on Sunday morning, and as we come out, that corner is left behind in the church and we forget all about it for the next seven days. As if religion implies only going to church! What about the rest of the time? We spend that as we please. In churches and gurudwaras we hear the words of God's salesmen - but do we hear? We only pretend to listen as a social obligation.

Nanak says: His salesmen are priceless. If you want to move towards Him, try to understand His salesmen. You will be unable to gauge His tradesmen; your intellect will be sorely taxed in the attempt, for none of your yardsticks work here. Whatever way you try to measure them, they always turn out to be more.

PRICELESS IS HE WHO COMES TO TAKE, AND WHAT HE TAKES.

Here everything is dealing in the priceless, the immeasurable and the inestimable. Here the customer, he who buys the goods, is also priceless; for the only thing on sale here is: ek omkar satnam.

PRICELESS HIS FEELINGS, AND HIS SAMADHI, TOO If the feeling of God is born within you, you enter a different realm. Then you are not here, you are somewhere else.

If anyone mentioned the name of God, Ramakrishna would stand up at once. His eyes would close and torrents of tears would begin to flow; his body became inert, and he was lost to the world. The mere mention of His name transported Ramakrishna to another world, which opens before you as the doors of this world close.

Nanak speaks of His feelings, mere remembrance, surati - the slightest recollection and you are transported elsewhere. When His feeling becomes total, samadhi results.

Understand the difference between feeling and samadhi; feeling means a glimpse, a ripple - being immersed in Him for a moment, but the you is present. You dived inside Him but you did not cease to exist. Like a person diving under water, how long can he remain under water? He has to come out in a moment. Besides, he was very much there as he dived.

Shaikh Farid was a siddha, an enlightened one. He lived almost at the time of Nanak. One day he was going to the river for a bath when a seeker questioned him, "How is God attained?" Farid said, "Come along with me. Let us bathe first. Then I will show you; and if I get the opportunity I shall show you while you bathe."

The seeker was rather frightened. He is asking about God and this man takes him for a bath, and offers to show him during the course of the bath! He was troubled, but having already asked he couldn't back down. And Farid was a well known saint, so there was the possibility of being shown something in the river. His curiosity was great as he stepped into the river. No sooner had he dived in than Farid jumped astride him. Tiny and thin though he was and Farid a hefty person, he mustered all his strength and succeeded in throwing Farid off of his back. When he came out he screamed, "You are not a saint but a criminal. What way is this? You must be mad. If you didn't know why didn't you tell me in the beginning?"

Farid replied, "Later we shall settle this problem of my sanity or unconsciousness. Now I have to ask you before your weak memory gives way, when I pressed you under water, how many thoughts were there in your mind?"

The seeker said, "What thoughts? Surely you are mad. How could there be any thought other than how to save my life? The only idea was to shake you off and get a breath of fresh air."

"That will do," said Farid. "You have understood. The day your mind is empty of all thoughts, and there is only the idea of God within you, you shall know all that is to be known. And remember, unless you risk your all in life, it is difficult to know God."

The word bhava is used for feeling or idea in the deepest sense, where there is no thought, only His remembrance. Had you been in place of the seeker, you too would have come out of the water.

Samadhi is the complete state of bhava, of feelings. Once you go you are gone! It is a point of no return. Then this feeling stays with you forever, you become one with it. It is not a dive, it is complete immersion, complete absorption. You also become water with the water. Now who is to come out?

Who is to go in? It is as if you were a doll fashioned out of salt or sugar; you jumped into the water and were dissolved! Now whoever tastes the water also gets a taste of you. In bhava you are still separate; in samadhi you become one. The glimpse is now eternal.

PRICELESS HIS FEELINGS, AND HIS SAMADHI, TOO PRICELESS HIS DIVINE JUSTICE, AND HIS COURTS; PRICELESS THE WEIGHTS AND BALANCE TO JUDGE MAN'S ACTIONS; PRICELESS HIS BOUNTY, AND THE SYMBOLS WHICH DISTINGUISH IT; Try to understand the value of His symbols. There is such complexity and confusion associated with idols and images. Hindus have thousands of sacred places and carved images. They are all symbols.

The Muslim cannot understand what there is in the idol. He destroys them, and when they break he thinks that if the image could not protect itself, how could it protect its devotees? This also happened in the life of Swami Dayanand. He was at the temple of Shiva on the night of Shiv-Ratri, when Shiva is worshipped. As is natural all the devotees who were supposed to keep vigil fell asleep. Dayanand however, who was still only a child, happened to be awake. He saw a small rat climbing all over the Shivalinga and nibbling at the offerings. Then the thought came to him: What use is it worshipping this image which cannot even drive away a rat? The Muslims miss the point, and so did Dayananda, for a symbol is a symbol and not God.

It is with the aid of a symbol that you set out on a journey; it is not the end in itself. Suppose your beloved makes you a gift of a handkerchief worth four annas. If you try to sell it in the market you will not even get two annas for it. Who will buy an old hankie? Perhaps it might fetch a small price in a secondhand shop. But for you it bears a different significance; you couldn't set a price on it. You even keep it locked away in a favored place in your cupboard. For you it is not only a handkerchief, but a symbol. Through it you are connected with your beloved. So that no one may know, you use this insignificant article. For you, in a very deep sense, your beloved lies entwined in its threads.

This very cloth has touched her hands, she has filled it with kisses and has given it to you. In a profound way your beloved has become one with it. For others it is just a piece of cloth; for you it has immeasurable value.

What is the difference? For you it is a symbol, for others it remains a mere handkerchief. The images of the Hindu are his symbols when he has filled them with his bhava; for the Muslim it is only a piece of stone. The image of Buddha is a symbol for the Buddhists, that of Mahavir is a symbol for the Jains; and for each, the other's symbol is of no value. A symbol has no general value. It is a very personal and private thing. Whoever knows this, knows; he is connected with it.

Therefore how could you ever criticize someone else's symbol? For you it may be ordinary - you are right! But for someone else it is extraordinary - and that, too, is true. You are right when you ask what is there in a mere handkerchief that you should hold it to your heart? And what if it is lost?

There are so many more available in the market.

But for the right one it has great value, great meaning; it is a symbol, and, as such, cannot be replaced at any price. It is unique and personal.

Nanak says: Even His symbols are unique. He is unique - that goes without saying, but if you have attained a glimpse of Him through some medium, that medium also becomes priceless. Every symbol must be respected, for who knows which one will light the way to Him? And never make the mistake of branding a symbol wrong, for a symbol can never be wrong. A symbol is a symbol for some and not for others; there is no right or wrong.

The Muslim insistently believes that images are useless - but the stone of Kaaba? This stone he kisses! No stone in the world has been kissed so much - by millions and millions of people in the last 1400 years. The Muslim takes the Kaaba as a proper symbol and finds this stone worth kissing, but he thinks the Hindu's images fit only to be broken.

A religious person must understand enough to realize that what is not a symbol for him could be a symbol for someone else. There is no need to prove it to be a commonly held symbol, for it is a personal matter that deals with deep intrinsic feelings.

For some the fig tree is holy. Would you say, "Are you mad to worship a mere tree?" The question is not at all what you worship, but worship itself. Any excuse, any means, is good enough if it inspires worship. All means are correct and all means are wrong. If you see with a scientific eye, a Peepul tree is a Peepul tree, a stone is a stone, a handkerchief is a handkerchief; but what has science to do with religion? Religion is the kingdom of love and not of the intellect and logic. Isn't it strange that every man reveres and guards his symbols but creates a thousand difficulties around the symbols of others? If you can hold your beloved's hankie to your heart, let the others keep theirs also; they are the mementos of their beloved.

Let the hint come from anywhere. For instance, if a man is interested in the God of the Peepul Tree and he is lost in samadhi while dancing and entertaining his God, the real question has nothing to do with the tree, but his going into ecstasy. Wherever this dance occurs, whatever the means that brings His remembrance, that thing is priceless.

PRICELESS HIS BOUNTY, AND THE SYMBOLS WHICH DISTINGUISH IT; PRICELESS HIS GRACE AND HIS ORDER, TOO; HE IS THE PRICELESS OF THE PRICELESS; HE CANNOT BE DESCRIBED.

MANY FALL, LOST IN MEDITATION, EVEN WHILE RECITING HIS ATTRIBUTES.

This is the very intent of singing His praises - understand it! Again and again Nanak says one cannot describe Him, we cannot enumerate His attributes, for there is no way to do so. And yet Nanak keeps on recounting His attributes. What is he doing? If He can't be described what is the need for so many words? They do nothing but express His qualities. We are faced by a metaphysical riddle.

People come to me and ask if the Buddha says that nothing can be said about Him, then why does Buddha speak? They also tell me, "You say nothing can be expressed in words about Him, and here you are talking every day! It seems so inconsistent."

Try to understand. Nanak says he cannot speak about Him and he speaks constantly of Him; for while recounting His attributes, the speaker slips into samadhi. He is not done with praising Him, he cannot praise Him enough, but oh, it is so lovely to talk of Him! The talk is never complete; having said so much, nothing has been told. Everything seems unsaid. But it gives so much joy to talk about Him, that one slips into meditation recounting His ways. No amount of talking conveys anything, but in the course of speaking the speaker is lost.

MANY FALL, LOST IN MEDITATION, EVEN WHILE RECITING HIS ATTRIBUTES.

THE VEDAS TALK OF HIM, AND PURANAS STUDY HIM; AND LEARNED ONES DESCRIBE HIM; SO ALSO INDRA AND BRAHMA; THE GOPIS AND KRISHNA SPEAK OF HIM: AND VISHNU AND THE SIDDHAS; AND MANY, MANY BUDDHAS; AND DEMONS AND DEITIES TOO.

MEN AND SAGES AND THOSE WHO SERVE, THEY ALL SING HIS PRAISE.

To speak of Him is not for the sake of speaking, but as a method of meditation. To discuss Him is a way to be lost in Him. To talk about Him is to be ready for Him. Even to sit where He is being discussed and listen - perhaps a drop of this rain may fall on you. Perhaps your parched throat may be relieved; perhaps some word may pierce your deaf ears and enter within; perhaps your blind eyes may get a ray of light; perhaps your thoughts may for a little while be soaked in the color and melody of His music; and perhaps you may fall silent for a while and your internal dialogue may be interrupted.

Nanak sings of Him, for while singing of Him he is lost in Him. Not only the singer, but even the listener is lost in Him. Therefore Nanak did not speak, he always sang. It is easier when you sing.

He used singing so that the internal chord may be tuned. In the rhythm of the song you may perhaps touch the fringe of that profound silence; then you will never forget it.

Nanak also stresses the importance of associating with saints. Associate with people who talk of Him, sing of Him. By and by, with constant hearing, the color will begin to spread over you too. When you walk through a garden, your clothes pick up the fragrance of the flowers without your knowing it. If you stand out in the morning sun the warm rays will cause the blood within you to flow faster.

And if you lie beneath the starry sky and watch the moon, its cool light is bound to find a place within you.

Association with holy men and saints means to be where He is discussed, where He is being praised.

The Hindus have said, "When He is criticized, close your ears. Where He is being talked about, listen with all attention; become all ears!" Therefore Nanak says time and time again, "Listen!" He talks about Him and He sings His praises. But he also reminds you again and again that however much you describe Him, you have made no headway, you have only just begun. No words can describe Him or enumerate His attributes. Don't think that whatever Nanak has said has become His measure. It is just a slight beginning, a feeble effort. Therefore Nanak praises Him while also saying He cannot be expressed.

THE VEDAS TALK OF HIM, AND PURANAS STUDY HIM; AND LEARNED ONES DESCRIBE HIM; SO ALSO INDRA AND BRAHMA; THE GOPIS AND KRISHNA SPEAK OF HIM, AND VISHNU AND THE SIDDHAS.

The gopis and Krishna never spoke of Him at all; they just danced. But in their dance they expressed Him. Krishna never sat down and talked of God to his milkmaids; he danced with them under the light of the full moon. Nanak says through dance they were expressing their praise of Him.

So many different ways there are: some sing, some dance, some keep silent - but all are expressions of Him. Whoever has realized Him expresses Him in each action, each indication, each gesture. If Buddha raises his hand, it is an indication towards Him. Whether Buddha opens his eyes, or keeps silent, he is still expressing Him.

Each person's way is different. Buddha could not dance. It was not in him. It would not have suited him. He would have looked very awkward dancing, but he looked so beautiful under the Bodhi tree.

The posture he assumes as he sits is his dance. He does not move, there is not a tremble. Like a statue he sits; that is his way!

Buddha's image has been the reason for all statues or images being referred to as but. In Arabic and affiliated languages, but is the corrupted form of Buddha. Buddha sat so statue-like that had you seen him alive you would have thought it was a marble statue. There was a reason for this. Buddha used to be that way, so tranquil, so cool, so still. That was his way and that is how he expressed Him.

Krishna dances. His way is just the opposite of Buddha. You can never imagine Buddha with a crown of peacock feathers on his head. He would look so clumsy. But if you make Krishna sit cross- legged under a Bodhi tree, like Buddha, he would look equally comic. This is not in keeping with his nature. He looks right only with a crown of peacock feathers and the gopis surrounding him and music and dance happening.

Nanak is saying that the dance of Krishna and the gopis is another unique way to express Him. This is a lovely statement of Nanak. In a thousand ways the awakened ones have spoken of Him. There are thousands of indications, and He towards whom all fingers point is one - Ek Omkar Satnam.

AND LEARNED ONES DESCRIBE HIM; SO ALSO INDRA AND BRAHMA; THE GOPIS AND KRISHNA SPEAK OF HIM, AND VISHNU AND THE SIDDHAS; AND MANY, MANY BUDDHAS; AND DEMONS AND DEITIES TOO.

MEN AND SAGES AND THOSE WHO SERVE, THEY ALL SING HIS PRAISE.

MANY THERE ARE WHO CAN EXPRESS IT, AND MANY DIE BEFORE COMPLETING THE TASK.

HE WILL BRING EVEN MORE TO THIS EXISTENCE.

NO ONE CAN PREDICT HIS ACTIONS.

WHATEVER HE FEELS - SO IT HAPPENS.

These words are worth pondering over. He cannot be expressed fully, for God is not an event that is completed;if it is still in the process of completion you cannot give a full account of it.

A man's biography, to be fully written, must wait till he dies. Until then his story is incomplete, some chapters still remain. How can we write God's life story? He will never die nor grow old. He will never reach the point where you can say this is the end.

God keeps on happening. He is a constant occurrence, an eternal manifestation. He is a flower that is eternally blooming, but the petals of the flower will never reach the point where we can say it has fully grown. It has been blooming always, it is blooming now, and will keep on blooming always.

Because His power is infinite, all descriptions fall short of Him; all the images we have made of God and descriptions we have given of Him remain incomplete. It is just as when we make children's clothes, they soon outgrow them. Only when they reach an age when they stop growing and their measurements remain constant can the tailor take the measurements once and for all.

God always keeps growing, therefore all the clothes we make for Him soon become inadequate.

All scriptures fall short and become old and outdated; therefore new religions manifest in the world, and new sages bring out new explanations. But these explanations remain valid for some time, then soon they begin to fall short and need to be replaced by new explanations, by newer sages who now sing His praises according to the needs of their times.

Every new song is popular and applicable only for a very brief time. Its relevance does not last even until we finish the song, for in that brief time God has gone even further ahead. Before we put the final touch to His image, He has become something else. Everything remains incomplete.

The Hindus are very wonderful people. Only they have made images of God that have no features.

Everywhere else in the world the images have definite features. The Hindus pick up a stone, smear it with vermillion and lo! it becomes the image of Hanuman, the Monkey-God. It has no features; it is just a small boulder. The Hindus say: What is the sense of giving it any shape? By the time we give the image its features, God will have moved further on. This stone will do just as well.

The image of Shiva, the Shivalinga, is egg-shaped and has no features. It is an eternal symbol.

Whatever form God takes, this symbol will not be affected, while others become outdated.

Nanak says: He has done so much up to now and He will keep on doing. Were He completely evolved, we would have been able to say something, we might have drawn some conclusions; but he keeps expanding further and further. He is unpredictable. We can make no inferences about what He will do next - neither about God nor the world - all is hidden in the unknowable.

HE WILL BRING EVEN MORE TO THIS EXISTENCE.

NO ONE CAN PREDICT HIS ACTIONS.

WHATEVER HE FEELS - SO IT HAPPENS.

His wish - and the happening occurs! For the Christians and Jews, God said "Be!" and the world came into existence.

With our limited energy, there is a distance between our feelings and our actions. If today the desire arises in you to build a house, the house will come into being in two years. This is because our energy is limited. If we had a little more energy, perhaps it could be constructed within a year; with yet a little more, perhaps in a day. And if your energy were total, as abundant as that of God, then there would be no gap between the wish and the action.

Therefore, time exists for us but not for God. It is an event in man's world because of his weakness.

If you but think back you will find that the weaker you were the longer time seemed to you. For instance, your wife has a fever of 104 degrees. You run to the doctor and are back with the medicine within five minutes, but your wife complains you took too long. Time seems so long in fever.

There is evidence that time seems longer in illness. Not only the patient, but those who sit by his side feel it. Sitting next to a dying man, the night never seems to end. When you are well and happy time seems to have wings; when you are unhappy it seems to drag. It all depends on your energy.

God is omnipotent. For Him time does not exist. Whatever He thinks, wishes, feels, becomes immediately a realized act. Nanak says, Whatever He wills or thinks, or feels, so it happens, and at that very instant, without a moment's hesitation. The willing and the happening are simultaneous.

His desire is the act. Nanak says, HE WHO KNOWS THIS IS HIMSELF THE TRUTH. This utterance has two meanings:

WHATEVER HE FEELS - SO IT HAPPENS.

WHOEVER KNOWS THIS, HE HIMSELF IS TRUTH.

The first meaning is that he who realizes the truth of the omnipotence of God, that His idea and its realization are identical, becomes truth himself.

The second sense involves Nanak saying HE ALONE CAN KNOW HIMSELF. A man of truth can only know himself. We cannot know Him, for we know not His future nor His past and He will never be complete. He goes from one completion to another - not an incomplete happening proceeding towards completion. His completion moves to further completion, to further perfection.

The first meaning sees the man of truth as he who recognizes God's all-pervading power. In the second meaning, the man of truth recognizes that he can only know himself, since God is never completed and can never be known completely.

IF SOMEONE BOASTS OF KNOWING HIM, THEN HE IS THE FOOL OF FOOLS.

To make a list of fools, the very first name is the man who boasts of knowing or describing God.

Nanak talks about Him, for to speak of Him is enchanting, it drowns us in ecstasy, it is meditation itself. Talking of His will, the heart begins to bloom, joy is born within and nectar begins to flow. But if someone thinks He can be described, he is the biggest of fools. He is a wise man who knows He cannot be described.

Nanak talks of Him for His very name is a source of bliss. He mentions Him at the slightest excuse, for it gives much joy. It seems he has nothing else to talk about. To introduce the subject is to knock at His door and when you talk of Him, the door opens. Have you ever noticed how a mother is always talking of her newborn child? Whether she talks to the neighbors, to her visitors, to the shopkeepers, the topic is always the child.

The lover constantly tells his beloved how much he loves her, how beautiful she is, how unique, unparalleled. He tells her again and again, that there will never be another like her. How lucky he is to have her! The beloved doesn't realize why he keeps repeating the same things over and over.

Constant repetition increases love. Love intensifies by constant repetition. Like the buzz of a bee as it hovers around the flowers, love begins to hum around the beloved.

What happens in ordinary life is the same as in divine love, only on a different scale, but the substance remains the same. So Nanak goes on and on telling the same things about Him. If you have not loved, you will find this very jarring and foolish. The Japji can be told in three small words: Ek Omkar Satnam. Then why does he go on and on? There is so much pleasure, so much joy in talking about Him! And if the feeling takes birth within, you too will find how sweet, how tender is His name.

A child was taught to say his prayers before going to bed. One day his mother observed him closely to see whether he really prayed. The child muttered one word and pulling the blanket up, lay down on the pillow. "What is this?" she asked, "Are your prayers over so soon?"

The child answered, "Why should I waste my time saying the same things every day? So I say to God, 'Ditto!' and I'm sure He is intelligent enough to understand."

The intellect gives you such advice: Why repeat yourself? But the heart wants to repeat over and over. The heart has never heard the word ditto. And while the heart keeps repeating, it is immersed in the nectar of His name. The more the heart repeats, the more we are lost in ecstasy. This is like the humming of the bee, but it can only be understood if you have had the necessary feelings.

At the very end Nanak reminds us not to indulge in boasting of knowing Him or being able to describe His attributes, for that can only prove you to be the chief among fools. If by constantly singing His praises your ego is lost, you shall be the wise among the wise. If, however, talking of Him is strengthening your ego, if you think: Who else but I could know what I know? then you are the fool of fools!